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Introduction to Linux - A Hands on Guide

This guide was created as an overview of the Linux Operating System, geared toward new users as an exploration tour and getting started guide, with exercises at the end of each chapter.
For more advanced trainees it can be a desktop reference, and a collection of the base knowledge needed to proceed with system and network administration. This book contains many real life examples derived from the author's experience as a Linux system and network administrator, trainer and consultant. They hope these examples will help you to get a better understanding of the Linux system and that you feel encouraged to try out things on your own.

I've been trying to install programs onto my Linux on and off for the last year. Invariably, I have problems despite the fact that I always make a concerted effort to follow the README instructions as closely as possible.... At the moment I'm trying to install a program that happens to be called "root" and here's a synopsis of my troubles:

First of all, I'm not exactly sure what to put in for <target> in part 5). I found a book that seemed to suggest inserting "-prefix=/usr" but I got an "invalid option" error. If I leave out the <target> part and just type in "./configure" I get an error that looks like this:

Configuring for linux
Checking for libX11 ... no
configure: libX11 (package x11-devel) MUST be installed

This last error seems to be common with all of the programs that I have tried to install, but I'm pretty sure I do have libX11.... and here's the kicker - I actually did somehow get this program up and running once about a year ago, but when I went back to use it again it wouldn't work. When I typed "root" (the name of the program) I got an error saying command not found.... why would that happen?

Well I appreciate anybody who actually takes the time to read through this. I would be even more appreciative if somebody could come up with a solution to my problem. As if it isn't obvious enough, I have an extremely limited knowledge of Linux, so please be kind if my problems are trivial.... Thanks.

I tried the "updatedb" and "locate libX11" commands from which I was able to get locations for libX11 which are as follows:

/usr/X11R6/lib/libX11.so.6.2
/usr/X11R6/lib/libX11.so.6

I'm not sure how to implement the last command that you suggested, though, which was "ln-s" as I got the error message:

bash: ln-s: command not found

I assume the # means I have to be superuser... Also, refering back to my original post, how do I insert this new address into 5)? I tried following the vague suggestions that scrolled passed after step 4), but nothing that I try seems to work. Thank you so much for your help.

also i may happen that ur compiler is looking for some other version of X11 sincew i too had some problems where the compiler required some lib.so.2 and i had lib.so.6
so u need to check the versuion which is requirwed and the version u have

also if u are using RPMS then u may find ur verson by
#rpm -qa|grep libX11

i agree ldconfig is a better way of doing the same
but oin the aboe case i think thee is the dependency problem maybe
the library needs to upgraded or the version should be checked , many of these these libraries are also not backward compatible..

I'm not sure I understood you. It looks like you want me to add any new libraries that I get to the "/etc/ld.so.conf" file and then run the command "ldconfig." The problem is, at least to my knowledge, I haven't yet added any new libraries, although I'm beginning to suspect that I might need to... Also, when I try to run the command "ldconfig" I get the error message:

what you put in this file are just paths to directories - as you can see

the libraries are in these directories - look into /usr/X11R6/lib and there you have all the libraries belonging to your X-Server

all the libraries under this directory are then found by the library loader

when you compile a program from source, the way is usually like this:

first you configure the source-files - often this is done with the help of a script called "configure" in the top-level of your source-file-tree - it is there in your case and you probably have run it.
you can give this script options with it to scecify, how the program (actually - the Makefiles which control the build-process) is to be compiled

to see what options there are available, you use the command:

./configure --help

since there are a lot more options than would fit on your screen, give this command:

./configure --help | less

with these options you can also control, what gets installed where - once the program is built
(these are the "targets" you where wondering about)
all these options (like --help itself) have defaults - which you will also see...

you build it with issuing:

make

and install it with issuing:

make install

(gmake is just another version of make...I think "make" will do)
What program is this you are trying to build anyway - just curious but it could also help too

during "make install" all the built files are copied to the locations specified in the Makefile - which get set up ( or altered...) when you run ./configure

since /usr/X11R6/lib is already in the file - this is not causing your problem

...ldconfig is a command which probably is only is roots PATH and also only executable by root

to run it you need to be root and - if it still is not found - give the full path to the program too - like this:

/sbin/ldconfig

What your error was about:

to compile a program it needs so called header-files - available as ...dev-packages for distibutions - that is what korozion was talking about.
you need to have the xfree_whatever.dev package installed to be able to compile programs which need XFree to run...

To satisfy your curiosity, the program that I am trying to install is called Root and it is an "Object Oriented Data Analysis Framework," as the manual puts it... I will hopefully soon be able to use it in order to make fancy graphs and whatnot....

So are you teling me that I need to install this .dev package before I can proceed? If so, where do I get it?

Judging from my error message which read: "configure: libX11 (package x11-devel) MUST be installed" I imagine that I need something by that name....

not pure curiosity - some programs are configured in a weird way - even if they provide the scripts to configure them...

Yes I'm telling you, that you need to install the Xfree-dev package - for now - there may be other dependencies.
But if there are none mentioned in the Readme which probaly came with the source-archive you want to build, than you should be good to go.

I don't know what distribution you are running - but even if I would, I probably would not know where you'd have to look or for what name exactly.
Try the place where your X-Server packages came from - or even one of your install-CDs
Use the package-manager which hopefully is part or your distribution.
sorry - can't say more